Page 9 of Chaos Luck Wrath

Being familiar with the restaurant, she knew it would be a tight timeframe to make it down there in half an hour. She didn’t even have her damn car here since Gage had insisted on driving her all over the place. “Sure thing.”

Before Liam hung up, he left her with a short and artificially sweet goodbye, “See you soon, sis.”

Keeping the phone to her ear even after Liam ended the call, she turned around and walked past the guys. On her way by, she pointed to her phone and then out to the hallway to indicate she was going to finish the call right outside Joey’s room. She got a nod from each of them in acknowledgment before disappearing from their sight.

Not long after Layne stepped out, the nurse’s pager went off and she glanced down at it. Quickly, she finished up her work of swapping out some bags and making sure that Joey’s vitals were all on point before she presumably left to see the next patient.

Joey rubbed his hands over his face tiredly. “I can’t sit in this place any longer. It’s driving me fucking insane. Not being able to see or touch Layne any time I wake up in the middle of the night is a damn nightmare.”

Gage sighed, “I told you, I’ve got this. Did they give you an idea of when you’re being released?” He leaned back against a wall comfortably.

Shaking his head, Joey responded, “If all continues to look good, in the next two weeks. Apparently, I’ve been healing like a fucking badass.” He proudly smiled. “The doctor said on the 15th, I think.” Then, it hit him, his smile faded, and he groaned. “Fuuuck.” He tilted his head back against his pillow.

Gage’s eyes widened with a bit of concern at the sudden shift in Joey’s demeanor. “What is it?”

Joey frowned and pulled his head upright again. “That’s the anniversary of Layne’s mother’s death.” His fingers combed through his dirty blonde hair. “Goddammit. I have to be out of here before then.”

He saw the look on Gage’s face which indicated that while he was empathetic about the gravity of the day itself, his brother was clueless about what it meant for their girl. Joey further explained, “She’s going to be a fucking wreck that day, she always is. I’m talking about drinking to find the bottom of the barrel and then some. With everything going on, I have to be there for her this time.”

“We’ll figure it out, man. I’ll talk to the doctor, get him to clear you, and we can both find a way to keep her…preoccupied that day.” Gage paused and looked at his watch, “She’s been on the phone for twenty minutes.”

“Fuck, I hope that means it was good news.” Joey shook his head, feeling doubtful.

Gage walked over to the round table where all his belongings were. He grabbed a bag of gummy bears and then paused, tilting his head. “Huh.”

Joey raised a brow, “Hm?”

His brother turned with a puzzled and concerned look on his face. “My keys were right here.” Gage patted the pockets of his jeans to make sure he hadn’t put the set of keys back in them. Each pocket turned up empty.

“Fucking hell.” He dropped the bag of gummies down onto the table and jogged out of the room into the hallway. He saw nothing but medical staff and visitors milling about. There was no sign of Layne.

Jumping to the same conclusion as Gage, Joey cursed and shoved the sheets off of himself as he got out of bed. He ripped the tape off where the IV fed into the back of his hand, then pulled the line out. There wasn’t even a wince at the pain which paled in comparison to everything else he had already been through.

If Layne took off, it wasn’t for anything good and Joey wasn’t going to wait until he was discharged to get the hell out of this godforsaken hospital. They would have to detain him against his will and have all of the New York Army National Guard posted at the door.

Chapter Five

KUNG PAO CHICKEN

The entire drive into Chinatown had been riddled with enough stress to leave her sweating by the time she finally parked Gage’s Jeep. The damn thing had been making a rattling noise inside the dash the entire trip, driving her fucking insane when her nerves were already on edge. He had enough money to live in a ridiculously swanky condo in Hudson Yards, but couldn’t let go of a rusty piece of shit Jeep? Luckily, he had reinstalled the doors on it after listening to her bitch for an hour about her hair getting whipped around and tangled into the worst knots she had ever dealt with in her life.

Before she left the hospital, she turned off her cell phone to force all calls to go straight to voicemail. She would have to answer to the guys later about taking off, but this was her decision to make. Layne already saw the price Joey had nearly paid and hell if she was going to drag either of them further into this shitshow. Liam was her brother and that made it her problem.

Layne walked down to the little Chinese restaurant half a block from where she parked. The House of the Chinese Dragon was tucked between two other retail spaces. On one side of it was an Asian grocery store, and on the other side? It was what could be called a massage parlor with a very ill-reputed area of expertise.

This wasn’t a randomly selected takeout place. Their father, Scott O’Reilly, had made a tradition of taking them here whenever there was something to celebrate. It didn’t have to be good grades or a birthday, but he was known to bring them down here after winning a fistfight, closing a deal under the table, or even after their first kill. It was a way of finding comfort in family and food.

As she stared up at the sign written in two languages with the image of a dragon sprawled over the top of it, this place no longer brought the joy and nostalgia it once did. Having her baby Glock tucked into the back of her jeans made her feel less anxious but didn’t seem to prevent her palms from feeling clammy. She wiped them against the sides of her pants one more time before walking inside the restaurant.

It maintained a rather eye-catching and spacious interior for in-house dining. The little Buddha statue by the door was the first thing she recognized when she entered. Music lightly played in the background like little chimes being struck to mimic cheerful sounds of nature. Inside was just as she recalled, lots of red and black splashed across the decorations and multiple pieces of artwork of dragons in various styles. At the back corner table—her father’s favorite—was Liam.

Reminding herself that they were in a public space, she hoped that it would be the one piece of security that would allow this to be as fruitful of a discussion as it possibly could be. Was Liam stupid enough to start a gunfight in public? She was hoping not, but after what transpired on her wedding day, she wouldn’t put it past him.

Layne walked past the other tables, most of them full of hungry patrons. Once she was within three feet of the table, Liam looked at her with an at-ease smile. She didn’t bother giving him one in return. He may have been happy to see her disregarding all the red alarms sounding in her head, but she wanted nothing but to come in here with a stick of dynamite to shove up his ass.

He looked the way he always had in some ways, but different in others. His smug fucking face was laced with signs of an ugly heart turned black. His auburn hair was no longer in a messy heap on his head, but smoothly styled with an off-center part. Liam’s hazel eyes seemed darker in an unsettling way with less of the green popping through the brown. The clothes he wore now looked like he owned a Fortune 100 company. The black tie paired with his custom designer suit was screaming for her to tighten it until he choked to death. Did he think he was Dad? He was far from it in her not-so-humble opinion.

“I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show. You had two minutes to spare.” He took a slow sip from the small ceramic cup in his hand, swallowing down the serving of green tea. “Are you going to sit or just stand there glaring at me?”

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